Melissa Auf der Maur 90s Rock Photos | Exclusive Insight

A Visual Record of the Final Analog Era

Melissa Auf der Maur, a bassist who performed with Hole and the Smashing Pumpkins, has opened a solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario titled My 90s Rock Photographs. The collection features images she captured between 1990 and 2000, documenting the internal life of two of the era's most iconic bands. These photographs capture life backstage, on tour, and in transit, providing a view of rock history before the rise of digital mass communication.

Auf der Maur began the project as she prepared to turn 50, reflecting on a decade that remains a point of deep cultural fascination. Her archive includes 15,000 prints, which she narrowed down to roughly 200 pieces for the exhibition and her memoir, Even the Good Girls Will Cry. She spent years sorting through these images in hotel rooms while on tour, attempting to reconcile her personal experiences with the larger shifts occurring in the music industry.

Trust and the Photographer’s Position

The unique perspective of these photos comes from Auf der Maur's dual role as a musician and a documentarian. She was not an external press photographer with limited access but a band member with an intimate perspective on figures like Courtney Love and Billy Corgan. She recalls being the only person in stadiums who had a camera, given that press access was typically restricted to the first three songs of a set.

Love, a frequent subject of the collection, placed her trust in Auf der Maur’s lens. Auf der Maur notes that while Love has complex feelings about her image, she trusted that her bandmate would capture the reality of their shared experiences rather than a superficial or unflattering version of events. This bond allowed for candid shots that would have been inaccessible to the public or traditional media outlets at the time.

Observations on Industry and Evolution

Auf der Maur describes her work as an ode to what she terms the last analog decade. She expresses concern about how corporate interests shaped the trajectory of her generation's artistic output, arguing that the industry shifted toward a model that eroded the underground and DIY spirit of the early nineties. Her photographs serve as a record of that transition, highlighting a time when the documentation of music was purely organic.

She views her photographic process as an attempt to understand her own existence and the world around her, rather than a pursuit of financial gain or public fame. As she looks back, she sees a clear divide between the romanticized view of that era and the difficult realities her peers faced in the face of corporate pressure. The exhibition invites viewers to consider the loss of that tangible, unrecorded history while acknowledging the artistic voices that were active during those years.